A NEW LIGHT ON TIFFANY

At the New-York Historical Society

The New York Historical Society
2 W. 77th St. at Central Park West
212-873-3400

Closing May 28, 2007

''Poppy New Base''

The Big Surprise about Louis Comfort Tiffany--just revealed at the New-York
Historical Society--is that he never designed those famous Tiffany Lampshades,
for which he is so widely acclaimed!

No, indeed. The real artist-craftsperson responsible was Clara Driscoll.
Not only did she and some of her female co-workers--in the Tiffany Studios'
Women's Glass-cutting Department--design these colorful Art Nouveau ornaments,
including the much-desired ''Dragonfly'' pattern, but they also cut and banded
the pieces of glass for the shades.

The actual shades--including the popular Peony and Wisteria designs--were then
leaded and soldered by Tiffany's male glass-workers. They were Unionized;
the women were not. And thereby hangs a Tale…

Clara Driscoll also designed other decorative objects for Tiffany, some of
which are on display over on Central Park West. Most of the work of the ''Tiffany
Girls,'' however, was confined to cutting Tiffany's colored-glass into intricate
pieces for his stained-glass windows, mosaics, and the lampshades.

Fortunately, Driscoll kept journals & wrote letters about both the studio-work
and her own life as a Working-Girl in New York City. So part of the exhibition
shows how these women spent their leisure-time and how they lived in general.

This show serves as an attractive pendant to the Metropolitan Museum's current
Tiffany Blockbuster, bringing his lovely Laurelton Hall Estate back to life.

And, as the New-York Historical Society has long had a very large collection
of Tiffany Lampshades, the discovery of Clara Driscoll as their creator offers
an opportune occasion to display them once again!